Help:Screen:MakeAlternateName

When you're displaying an author, there is a link in the left navbar labelled "Make This Author a Pseudonym". Clicking on this link displays the "Make Pseudonym" screen, which allows you to specify that the author in question is a pseudonym of another author.

An author is a pseudonym of another author if they are in fact the same person. In the ISFDB, a pseudonym means that the author wrote a work under a name different than their canonical name. This leads to a few rules:

• An author can have more than one pseudonym.
• A pseudonym can represent a group of authors.
• A pseudonym can be used by more than one person. House names (like Alexander Blade) may be used by dozens of authors.
• An author who is widely known by a pseudonym (Mark Twain or Cordwainer Smith, as examples), will have a canonical ISFDB name which, in reality is a pseudonym. This can set up counter-intuitive situations where use of their real name is listed as a pseudonym. If you're a strict taxonimist, this situation will induce some cognitive dissonance - just go with it.

Marking an author record so that it's a pseudonym of another author

Instructions go here.